With an exterior cabinet of beautiful white oak, brass door handles and lock, the Vinotemp 440TD Wine Cellar looks more like a cabinet for clothes or other linen rather than a wine cooler. This impression is reinforced with its dimensions at 38″ W x 29″ D x 82″ H. However, if you open the two doors, you will find a racking system made of redwood and aluminum. The rack, with slots sized at 3.75 inches square, can carry up to 280 bottles of wine depending on their sizes and shapes.
The wine bottles are cooled with a Wine Mate™ 1500 BTU cooling mechanism. This is a compressor-based system that uses an R-134 refrigerant, which is deemed less harmful to the ozone layer than CFCs. The wine cellar has only one temperature zone wherein the temperature is maintained at 55°F with a humidity level from 50 to 70%. This reproduces an environment not unlike those in the caves in France where wine used to be stored for proper aging.
Heavy-duty insulation materials with an R factor of R12 line the walls and doors of the 440TD. Also, a magnetic gasket runs the full length and width on all sides of the inner part of the door. These two help in keeping the cool air inside the cabinet from leaking outside, and the hot air outside from seeping inside, thus maintaining a steady temperature.
When purchasing the Vinotemp 440TD Wine Cellar, you are given several options relative to the finish of the oak exterior, the size of the slots of the wine rack, compressor power, and the addition of a fluorescent lamp inside the cabinet.